USA - Some venues just lend themselves to creating evocative looks on stage, believes Glenn Ottenbachker. That’s one reason why the lighting designer from A.G. Entertainment USA was only too happy to take on the project of lighting a shared headline show at The Pabst Theatre recently. Opened in 1895, the Renaissance Revival style theatre on the Milwaukee River exudes history. (It is the fourth oldest continuously operating theatre in the United States.) The 1,300-capacity venue also provides a supportive backdrop for a variety of looks with its drum-shaped interior complementing its proscenium stage and Austrian crystal chandelier hanging over its seating area. Ottenbacher played on these aesthetics when lighting shows by tribute bands Barracuda and 52nd Street, using Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by AG Entertainment to create a series of different looks tha
Curaçao – Singer Raynor ‘Raey’ Laufer recently performed a song entitled Kaminda tin Huma, Tin Kandela which translated from Papiamentu, the language of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao means Where There is Smoke There is Fire. Many were warmed by the glow of the Curaçan artist’s own fire when he performed this number at the 51st annual Tumba Festival, a four-day event that drew over 40,000 fans from around the world and was broadcast on TV throughout the Caribbean and in Holland. Even more people will be watching (and hearing) Raey song very soon. As the winner of the Tumba Festival’s competition, Kaminda tin Huma, Tin Kandela was named the official anthem of Curaçao’s internationally famous pre-Lent carnival. Like all the other artists who entered songs in the Tumba Festival, Raey not only sounded great, he looked impressive too,
South Korea - To provide the Go Out Camping Music Festival with immersive and impactful sound tailored for the outdoors, TechData PS Co collaborated with rental company Raffoler and Harman Professional Solutions to implement a range of JBL Professional audio solutions. With an attendance of 10,000 people over three days, the first post-pandemic edition of the Go Out Camping Music Festival took place at the Seokgangi Auto Camping Site located in South Chungcheong Province’s Taean County. Featuring a2n eclectic roster of artists from genres as diverse as R&B and indie - including Car, the Garden, Daybreak and more - the festival also hosted a wide range of outdoor activities including yoga, rock climbing and campfires. Given the stage’s limited truss height and seaside location, the festival required a live setup that was lightweight and easily transportable acr
The Netherlands - Toverland theme park in Sevenum faced the challenge of opening its doors outside the standard theme park season for its immersive Winter Feelings experience and successfully turned to Antari snow machines supplied by Highlite International BV to add to the wintery ambiance. From 26 November to 15 January, the Dutch theme park offered visitors a magical winter wonderland. For their immersive Winter Feelings concept, they aimed to transform the entire – normally tropical-themed – Port Laguna entrance area into a winter-themed world. To meet this challenge, they invested in 14 Antari S-500 L Snow Machines, acquired from Highlite. The Antari S-500 L is a professional, silent snow machine that delivers snow showers to medium and large venues and was therefore perfectly suited to the occasion. The main activities centred around a large ice
Hungary - The worst band in Hungary! The popular quintet, Republic, has, on occasion, introduce themselves as such, tongue planted firmly in cheek. Anyone familiar with this group knows that this sort of self-deprecating humour, is in keeping with the freewheeling, let’s-not-take-things-(or ourselves)-too seriously attitude that has marked their career. After 32 years and 30 top-selling albums, Republic remains as bold, adventurous, and irreverent as a newly formed garage band. As their lighting designer, András Praksch, knows the importance of keeping intense, contemporary looks front-and-centre in his shows supporting the band’s blend of traditional Hungarian folk music infused with new electro-rock sounds. “Republic is legendary, and they’ve been around for over three decades, but they are definitely not ’old school,” he said. “Their sound is always e
USA - Having grown up as musicians, it’s no wonder that George and Geoff Hazelrigg fully immersed themselves in the industry and every new opportunity it provides. Between being two-thirds of the Hazelrigg Brothers jazz trio, manufacturing the D.W. Fearn line of circuits and co-founding Hazelrigg Industries, the duo is familiar with every step of the musical process: from creation to production to performance. With 30 years of production experience and 15 years of high-definition recording knowledge under their belts, the Hazelrigg brothers are now tackling the newest force to take the music world by storm - immersive audio recording. For these recording projects, the duo relies on DPA Microphones’ 4006A Omnidirectional Condenser Microphones and accompanying nose cones. “These mics are just so quiet,” explains Geoff. “When we record in DSD, an extremely high
USA - The sold-out co-headlining Trey Anastasio Band (TAB) and Goose winter 2022 tour played multiple arenas along the north-east coast and was a massive hit with fans, who, not only enjoyed some superlative music, but also witnessed a collaboration between the two artists’ respective lighting designers. Marc Janowitz (TAB) and Andrew Goedde (Goose) plus their lighting directors / programmers and operators on the road, Patrick Hayes for TAB, and Tony Caporale for Goose, engaged in teamwork and creative synergy to make this happen while utilising Robe moving lights. The mix of Robe Fortes, Tarrantulas, Spiiders, Spikies and Tetra2 fixtures was supplied by Gateway Studios & Production Services (GSPS), together with all the tour’s lighting equipment. There was no playback video onstage, but all the shows were streamed, so both band sets were lit for a full
Singapore - Orchard Road has added another jewel to its crown in the form of the first and largest Puma flagship store, not just in Singapore, in the whole of Southeast Asia. Puma chose the Lumos LED display system, designed and developed by UK based Esprit Digital, who together with Singaporean integration specialist PAVE, installed Lumos throughout the flagship store. Puma is the latest in a growing list of retail brands to choose the Lumos system, amongst them Adidas, Armani, Harvey Nichols, Virgin and Westfield for their stores and screen networks. Colette Hilton, head of retail at Puma UK/IE comments, “The Singapore flagship project was a really important one for Puma, as it is our largest and highest profile location in Southeast Asia. As part of the overall project, we decided to make digital signage an integral part of our marketing strategy, not only to co
UAE - Over 400 of Elation Professional’s all-weather Proteus lights were used by lighting designer Bruno Poet on the UAE's 51st National Day celebration, a showcase of the nation’s past, present and future that took place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre in December. A 108m cylindrical performance stage, lined with LED strips to form a tunnel and featuring portals at each end symbolizing the past and future, served as a dynamic platform for a parade of floats and massive cast of over 3,000 performers. A backstage staging area stretched nearly 2km before parading through the space and out the other end. Es Devlin returned as co-creative director for the show, working with show producers People Creative. The organising committee of the 51st National Day Celebration was headed by creative executive producer Rawdha Al Qubasi and artistic director Ayesha Ha
USA – Rapper Pitbull’s Can’t Stop Us Now tour has been zigzagging its way around the US with a backdrop of energetic visuals displayed on three vertical LED screens driven by Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers. Presented by Live Nation, the Cuban-American musician was joined by stars including Iggy Azalea on the tour, which visited states across America and played more than 50 dates. Florida-based YC3 Lighting Design stepped out again with Pitbull for the new tour, delivering creative direction, production design, and lighting and video design. “Pitbull is a great guy to work with, and he trusts us to create a great lighting and video show every time,” says YC3’s Yamil Charif, who has a longstanding working relationship with Pitbull. “Once I have the set list, the script, I start to create and plan the visual content. And when I have a solid idea of the
The Netherlands - As one of the five largest theatres in the Netherlands, Theater & Concert Orpheus takes the responsibility for the safety of its visitors very seriously in its three halls with a capacity between 242 and 1286 seats as well as the affiliated restaurant. When it became time to replace its aging evacuation system with one that would meet the latest safety standards, Bosch Praesensa was chosen. The requirement was to upgrade the current solution to meet the necessary regulatory requirements for public buildings and ensure it received the required EN certification. The main challenge for the theatre was the integration of the house PA and background music system with the voice evacuation system. The aim was for a solution that would give the theatre complete control over all of its Dante-based audio facilities from one interface. Achieving this
UK - Recently, White Light was approached by BATS (Brantham Amateur Theatrical Society) who wanted to invest in a series lighting fixtures; both for their upcoming production of Guys and Dolls as well as all future productions. The history of BATS dates back to 1972 when a drama subcommittee of the Community Council known as the Brantham Community Council Drama Group staged their first production. Ever since, it has regularly put on shows; all of them taking place at the Brantham Village Community Hall. The first show to be staged this year was Guys and Dolls, on which John Hoskyns was the musical director. He comments: “Alongside my role as MD, whenever I’m working on a show, I always find myself becoming involved with the technical elements. Initially, this was just sound (alongside being a local GP, I also used to run a sound hire and sales compan
USA - Special Event Services (SES) has significantly expanded its Ayrton lighting inventory with additional purchases of Domino LT, Bora S, and Khamsin fixtures and further committed to the product line with large first-time investments in Perseo Beam, Diablo, and Zonda 9 FX lights. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton products in North America. Headquartered in Mocksville, North Carolina, SES offers audio, lighting, design, video, staging, and live event production to a wide array of clients. The company has closely watched the growth of LED technology and set a goal of getting its lighting inventory as close to 100 percent LED as possible. While SES offers LED fixtures from several different manufacturers it has kept an eye on Ayrton and its new LED offerings. “Ayrton became very attractive to us because, within one company, small to large size
USA - For Modest Mouse’s recent Lonesome Crowded West Tour, FOH Engineer Peter Thompson utilised Soundcraft audio control solutions. Founded in Issaquah, Washington by singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy, Modest Mouse is an influential indie rock band. While best known for their crossover hit Float On, the band has built a reputation for experimentation and overhauling their sound across every album, evolving from a post-grunge trio of high schoolers to a five-to-seven-piece band of violins, horns and percussionists. For long-time fans, however, the band’s sophomore album The Lonesome Crowded West - a ramshackle collection of songs about the struggle for self-understanding in an increasingly urbanized, consumer-driven and chaotic world -remains their definitive work to this day. To celebrate the album’s
USA - For the 2023 broadcast of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, lighting designer Lee Rose with supplier PRG selected and deployed a comprehensive range of Martin lighting solutions. A network television staple since 1972, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve annually rings in the New Year with a varied roster of performers and guests alongside coverage of the festivities in New York, Los Angeles, and other cities throughout the globe. The Los Angeles portions of this year’s special were filmed at two locations in Disneyland - Flo’s Diner in California Adventure and the Sleeping Beauty Castle -alongside the usual studio location, this year from Radford Studio Centre. Each location also featured performances by a wide variety of artists including singer Ciara, Halle Bailey of pop duo Chloe x Halle and K-Pop group Tomorrow X Together am
USA - Weekends With Adele, her residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, which comprises a five-month series of weekend-night shows between November 2022 and March of this year, is the next step in a singular career. Presenting Adele in an immersive-audio environment for the first time, and DiGiCo - in the form of two Quantum7 consoles supplied by Brit Row/Clair Global -are there with her to ‘assure a fantastic and flawless show’. In true Vegas style, it’s a big show, says Dave Bracey, who has worked and toured with Adele for much of the last 10 years, after stints with Depeche Mode and the Cure in the 1990s, and later with Robbie Williams, Björk, Massive Attack, and P!NK, among others. Ten weeks into the weekends-only schedule they haven’t yet had to move out to let the venue be used by another production during their breaks, but he estimates that
UK - For the 25th annual MOBO (Music of Black Origin) Awards at Wembley, SJ Grevett had to incorporate a distinctive M-shaped trussing into his design. This trussing was configured in two levels, a softer, less pronounced M in the upper section that ran horizontally, and a sharper, more dramatic, and vertically oriented rendition of the letter below it. Working with this M-and-M configuration, SJ turned the MOBO stage into a vibrant canvas that lent itself to limitless design possibilities for the award ceremony. “Having the M on the top horizontal was very good, and easy to work with,” he said “However, the lower truss rigging was interesting due to its M shape.” These challenges were complicated further by a tight production schedule. SJ and his team had only three weeks to pull the design together, yet still managed to keep the M-shaped trussing over and on
Germany - The cabaret-style Cologne Stunksitzung is the original father of the ‘alternative carnival session’ and the largest format of its kind. From 7 December 2022 to 21 February 2023, 46 Stunksitzungen took place at the E-Werk venue, including a TV broadcast on the WDR channel. The lighting technology for the Stunksitzungen was once again provided by the Cologne-based event and media technology service provider al-media. Together with lighting designer Jojo Tillmann, the team relied almost exclusively on Cameo spotlights. The al-media firm has been active as a technical service provider for the Stunksitzungen for many years and is located in the immediate vicinity of the famous E-Werk and Palladium venues. In 2021 and 2022, al-media owner André Lyrmann invested in a broad Cameo portfolio ranging from Zenit W600 washlights to Opus SP-5 profile moving heads and
USA - Just outside the bustling Houston metropolis lies St. Mary Magdalene Catholic church. The church was established in 1912 and would hold Mass in the homes of its parishioners until a sanctuary was built and consecrated in 1915. Now home to a thriving congregation, St. Mary Magdalene conducts seven worship services each weekend, and its sanctuary supports up to 1200 people. Stained glass windows depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross flank the sides, while an altar featuring an ornate carving of the Last Supper dominates the dais. The high-peaked, wood-panelled ceiling and other hard surfaces combined with an underpowered audio system resulted in low speech intelligibility, making it difficult for churchgoers to understand the worship service. Steerable loudspeaker arrays from Renkus-Heinz were installed in the church to improve intelligibility and enhance worship experi
Australia - Melbourne Catholic secondary college St Peter’s recently opened a new performing arts centre, designed by international theatre consultancy Schuler Shook. Located alongside its Clyde North campus in the south-east of the city, the Geode Centre features a full complement of pro-level AV technology solutions designed and integrated by local supplier/installer Factory Sound, including a Nexo Geo M12 line array system. Working closely with St Peter’s College, the team at Factory Sound were brought in early within the design process to evolve a technical fitout which would serve the school’s intentions for the space whilst ensuring budgets were always under consideration. Working directly for the school over the 18 months prior to construction meant many of the pitfalls which can occur when tech is considered ‘just another trade’ were avoided entirely. Facto
USA - First Baptist Church Woodstock (FBCW) is no stranger to major undertakings. Spanning three centuries, the church’s current 16,000-member congregation worship in a 7,500-seat worship centre in its 435,000sq.ft building on an 80-acre campus in the North Georgia town of Woodstock twice each Sunday. Last year, FBCW notably became the site of the world’s largest permanent installation of L-ISA immersive sound technology, which is paired with DiGiCo Quantum338 consoles at front of house and monitors. Now, the church has embraced immersive mixing in the house and in the ears with its December addition of a DMI-KLANG module, supplied by the church’s integration partner, Diversified. FBCW’s monitoring landscape is certainly an ambitious one. Every Sunday, there are two completely distinct worship experiences. The first, starting at 9:30am, is choir-driven with a s
Germany - Huelva, Spain-based manufacturer of LED screens Alfalite has supplied its Modularpix Pro VP XR panels with ORIM technology to build a 120sq.m L-shaped LED wall in Plazamedia’s new Extended Reality (XR) studio, which has just been opened near Munich. Plazamedia has been the leading sports TV producer in the German-speaking region since 1976. Its new briX|woRk.studio, located in AGROB Medienpark in Ismaning near Munich, will offer new and diverse application possibilities for innovative and sustainable productions with a combination of XR, AR and VR for film and production companies, broadcasters, advertising companies and event and creative agencies. briX|woRk.studio is one of Germany’s most innovative studios. It combines real set architecture with virtual worlds via the 24m- wide and 5m-high LED wall and can be expanded into a 360° space through augmen
Norway - The story of Hitler’s first defeat in the Second World War is depicted in the new Netflix film, Narvik. This is named after the small town in Northern Norway where the Norwegian army and the Allies fought and won the first battle against Germany. The world premiere was held in Narvik itself with a big outdoor cinema especially created in the town square, which was free for everyone. The realism of the battle, and the associated sound effects, were authentically captured by a Martin Audio Wavefront Precision line array deployment in 5.1 surround, in a completely unique and unprecedented production. Stein Hjertholm from the event production company All-In, originally contacted Thomas Nordvik Olsen from Audiolight in Harstad and he, in turn, asked if Øystein Wierli, head of sound at Atendi, Martin Audio’s Norwegian distributor, could act as consultant
UAE - A zactrack real-time tracking system was specified and used to control over 400 moving lights for the 51st United Arab Emirates National Day ceremony which featured creative direction and design by Es Devlin and was produced by People Creative. The show was directed by Francisco Negrin, Gavin Robins & Bryn Walters, with lighting for this high-profile production designed by Bruno Poet, with associate designers Max Narula & Johanne Jensen. A special tunnel shaped auditorium was designed by Es Devlin specially curated for the location at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi. The epic 45-minute show featured a full-scale parade and a stylishly choreographed cast of over 3000, including 1000 military personnel and 1000 children, which highlighted the history, values, achievements, and future visions of the UAE. This fusion of colour, movement and drama was broadcast and
